Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Brief synthesis

The city of Carcassonne is located in the Occitanie region, in the department of Aude, on a rocky outcrop dominating the course of the Aude and on the historic axis of communication linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Since the pre-Roman period, fortifications have been erected on the hill where Carcassonne is located today. In its present form, it is an outstanding example of a fortified medieval city with an enormous defensive system developed mainly in the 13th century. This system consists of two enclosures separated by barriers surrounding the houses, the streets and the superb Gothic cathedral, as well as the castle and the main buildings associated with it.

The inner ramparts comprise twenty-six circular towers and largely overlap the clearly visible Roman defenses for two-thirds of their length. The outer ramparts have nineteen round towers, three of which are barbicans. The enclosure is surrounded by moats and the two main entrances to the fortified city, the Porte Narbonnaise and the Porte de l'Aude, are particularly elaborate. The 12th century count's castle and the main buildings associated with it were built on the western part of the Roman ramparts. The basilica dedicated to Saints Nazaire and Celse has no flying buttresses, stability being ensured by the internal vaulted structure.

Carcassonne also owes its exceptional importance to the long restoration campaign led from 1853 to 1879 by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of the founders of modern conservation science.

Criterion (ii): The fortified city of Carcassonne owes its exceptional importance to the restoration work undertaken during the second half of the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, who strongly influenced the evolution of conservation principles and practices.

Criterion (iv): The city of Carcassonne is an excellent example of a fortified medieval city whose enormous defensive system was built on ramparts dating from late antiquity.

Integrity

The fortifications of Carcassonne, as well as the castle and the cathedral, are imposing monuments which reflect in an exceptionally complete way the structure of a medieval fortified city. Their integrity is genuine for the fortifications (only the great barbican is missing from the defensive system), a little less for the urban buildings (disappearance of Saint-Sernin Church and the cloister of the Cathedral). The Cathedral is an integral part of the feudal and then royal design of this great medieval fortress. Paradoxically, it was the integrity of Viollet-le-Duc's intervention on the double enclosure that suffered attacks in the 20th century, through the arbitrary substitution of covering materials, before the quality of his work was recognized.  

Authenticity

While authenticity as a medieval monument cannot be maintained due to 19th century restorations, which mainly concerned crowning and roofing, most of the ramparts and towers are authentic, with substantial elements of the ramparts of the Late Roman Empire. Saint-Nazaire Cathedral, with its sculpted decoration and its remarkable set of 14th century stained glass windows, presents the appearance it had in the Middle Ages.

Protection and management requirements

The enclosure and the cathedral of Carcassonne are protected in application of the Heritage Code and belong to the State. They have been classified as historical monuments since 1840. Other intramural buildings are also protected.

The buffer zone is constituted by protection under classified and registered sites.

The management and conservation of the double enclosure are entrusted to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, a public establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, which finances and implements the necessary conservation work and ensures that it is open to the public.

The Cité and its surroundings are governed by public utility and town planning easements which control its development, the management of which is the responsibility of the city of Carcassonne in collaboration with the State services, which constitutes the heart of the management system of the property.

To be effective, the management of the property requires stable inter-institutional dialogue, coordination and collaboration, for which a property committee is being set up, with the mandate to develop and implement a management plan. The landscape quality of the immediate and wider environment of the property is crucial for safeguarding its Outstanding Universal Value, hence the ongoing implementation of a major site operation. Its objective will be to improve the landscape quality of the surroundings of the city and to channel the reception of visitors, by eliminating parking in the immediate surroundings of the inscribed property.